


contingency

by reptilianraven



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 01:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5848783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilianraven/pseuds/reptilianraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.</i>
</p><p>This time, Eggsy pulls the trigger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	contingency

**Author's Note:**

  * For [faerielissa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/faerielissa/gifts).



> gotta admit that your prompts were way outta my usual alley but i really enjoyed writing this. i hope you like it!

Eggsy pulls the trigger and shoots the dog. He does this because this time around, things are different.

This time, Arthur was called for a last minute meeting. When Merlin asked with whom it was with, Arthur just waved him off with “Confidential,” as if that meant anything at all. 

This time, Eggsy isn’t lulled into a false sense security, told to sit and chat before being told to shoot at JB where he sat. Where he’d still be too close, fucking blank or not. This time, he and Roxy are brought into the same room, JB at his heels and her ridiculous poodle at hers. They face away from each other. There’s a sheet on the floor and a gun on a table.

Merlin, watching from a camera somewhere, says “The gun is live.”

He says. “Shoot the dog.”

And it sounds a lot like how the wind did when it caught his parachute and sent him careening backwards. It sounds a lot like how the train barrelled on forward above him while he was tied to false tracks.

It sounds a lot like a “Just trust me,” he’d heard recently. 

“Just trust me,” Harry told him.

This time, Eggsy pulls the trigger.

Roxy does too.

And then there were still two.

\---

“Jesus _fuckin’_ Christ,” Eggsy falls to his knees, gathering JB into his arms. After the initial shock of the gunshot, JB is right as rain. 

Eggsy is shaking. Slightly. He hears Roxy say “Shit. Shit. Thank god.”

“Congratulations,” Merlin comes into the room. “You are both still eligible for the title of Lancelot.”

“Fuck you, mate.” Eggsy says, no real heat behind it because honestly, Kingsman is fucked up. Merlin’s just the dude who gets the shit done. He cradles JB to his chest. “What kind of bullshit test is shootin’ a damn dog?”

“The kind that sets one type of person from another,” Merlin answers. “The one that proved that both of you as that type of person.”

“What, a sadist?” Eggsy feels the disbelief seeping out. “Somebody who’ll shoot no matter what?”

“Did you feel like that was the point when you pulled the trigger?” Merlin says. It’s like the parachute sermon again, and Eggsy is ready to get right up in Merlin’s face when Roxy speaks up.

“Trust,” She says. She’s lying down on the floor and her ridiculous poodle is draped over her body. “We trust that if you tell us to pull the trigger on an innocent, it’ll be blank. You can’t have an agent who doesn’t trust in the organization. You knew that Kingsman wouldn’t make you kill a dog.”

“I know fuck all about what Kingsman would make me do,” JB licks Eggsy’s face. “Jesus Christ.”

“The both of you are dismissed,” Merlin says. 

“What now?” Roxy asks. “I thought this was the last test.”

“It’s the last test if only one person gets through it. But since that obviously hasn’t happened, we stop having tests.” Merlin tellls her, and Eggsy knows what he’ll say next. “Now, it’s missions.”

Missions. Just like the one his dad went on. Because his dad also shot the dog. His dad trusted Kingsman.

It’s surreal, how only now, while holding a wheezing pug close to his chest, does he realize that he doesn’t actually trust Kingsman at all. Sure he trusts Merlin. He trusts Roxy. He trusts _Harry_ , but not—

\---

_”Would you like to learn how to make a proper martini?”_

_“Yes, Harry.”_

That night, from crisp clear, an adrenaline fueled clarity, blurred into something syrupy and warm around the edges after each drink. 

There was Harry. Harry, who looked at Eggsy and saw something instead of nothing, more than what most people ever see, Eggsy himself included on his worst days. They’ve stopped making martinis, by this point. Now, it’s just them in Harry’s kitchen. Harry’s prattling on and on about his old missions, and Eggsy is too far gone to hang off his every word. It’s all too muddled. He concentrated on how Harry’s sleeves were rolled up, how a few buttons were undone, soft and well worn. 

Eggsy figured, what the hell. If anything goes wrong, he’ll blame it on the drinks. He leaned up and kissed Harry, and for a blissful moment, it was all perfect.

Right before Harry pushed him away gently.

“Fuck,” He said eloquently as his brain tried to catch up. “I’m sorry—I”

“You’ve been drinking,” Harry told him. “You aren’t thinking straight.”

“S’cuz I’m not,” Eggsy winced. “I meant that I’m sorry that I want this even though you don’t. Not because I did it.”

“Eggsy,” Harry said. His hands were light where they held Eggsy at a distance. “It’s been a long day. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“We don’t have to,” He said. “If it makes things awkward, we can pretend it never happened. Swear.”

Harry frowned. “We’re doing no such thing.”

“What? Why?”

“Well I never said I didn’t want this,” Harry told him frankly. “I simply told you that we could talk about it tomorrow.”

Eggsy blinked a bit. Harry smiled that smug little smirk. 

“You’re an arse is what you are. Fuck tomorrow. What the hell are we waiting for?” Eggsy tried to kiss him again, but Harry’s arms didn’t budge. Prick.

“For us to be on common ground,” He answered. “One more test, then you’ll be Lancelot.”

“If that isn’t incentive, I don’t know what the fuck is,” Eggsy laughed. “What if I don’t pass?”

“You will,” Harry said, sure and confident. And then Harry kissed him. A too-short peck on the lips, enough to leave him wanting. “Just trust me.”

\---

“I can’t _believe_ you shot your fuckin’ dog.” Eggsy says the moment Harry opens the door. He storms in past Harry, paces around for a bit, before stopping and looking at Harry.

“You did too,” Harry says, amused. He glances at JB, who Eggsy is still holding. “He doesn’t look too put off about it. I am a bit worried, though, about how you managed to escape the manor.”

“It’s not escaping if Merlin let me,” Eggsy says. “He could’a controlled the car I stole and steered me right back, but he didn’t.”

“He’s letting you have your tantrum,” Harry gets a glass. “Drink?”

“Thanks but nah. Your drinks taste like shite.” Harry shrugs and pours himself a drink. “And I’m not having a tantrum. I just needed to see you.”

Harry raises an eyebrow. “You aren’t Lancelot just yet, Eggsy.”

“I pulled the trigger because of you, you know.” He says instead of focusing on what Harry said. Not just yet. “I don’t know shit about Kingsman, if I really think about it, and I barely know you too, but, I dunno.” Eggsy let JB down. He watches him toddle around aimlessly, looking out of place in Harry’s posh house. “I at least knew you wouldn’t make me kill my dog.”

“Don’t let Merlin hear you say that. It’s the organization you’re supposed to trust. Not me. I am flattered, though.” Harry lifts the glass to his lips and takes a drink. 

“Glad I gave you an ego boost,” Eggsy rolls his eyes. Of course Harry would be the kind of person to not get that Eggsy is trying to find a way to say _you mean a lot to me_ without explicitly saying those exact words. 

Before Eggsy can make another attempt, Harry blinks, and then brings his hand up the his glasses to tap the frames. 

“Well,” Harry says when he’s finished talking to who Eggsy assumes was Merlin. “We’ll have to have this conversation some other time. 

\---

“Merlin, if I wanted to stare at a screen and lose hope for humanity, I would’ve watched the news.” Roxy drawls, eyes still on the monitor. She’s got more of a resistance than Eggsy, who’s resigned himself to looking at the church himself from where he’s seated.

They’re in a car that has the steering wheel on the wrong side, inconspicuously parked by the what seems to be the most bigoted church in America. All in all, it’s _boring_. Merlin told them they were backup for Harry, but in reality, that just means him and Roxy sitting in a car doing nothing while this guy shittalks his brains out in the background.

Harry gets fed up with it eventually. Eggsy can’t hold back his grin when he says his little spiel.

But then the needle drops.

It’s brutal. It’s bloody. Merlin is saying something to Harry, but he doesn’t get anything, no reply other than Harry shooting several people straight through the face.

“Roxy, Eggsy. There’s a signal. It’s causing everything.” Merlin starts addressing them instead of Harry. “I’ve tracked it to a house nearby.”

“Merlin, what do we do?” Eggsy asks. They’re out of the car in seconds. 

“One of you get to the house and find a way to disable the signal,” Merlin tells them. “The other, find a goddamn way to get as many people out of that church _alive_.”

Eggsy looks at Roxy, and they don’t even speak. They know. She bounds for the house and Eggsy goes for the church.

And it’s like a wave washing over him. 

He went in with the goal of getting Harry out, but now everything is muddled and blurry and very, very angry. He has a gun, and he shoots through the violent haze that’s suffocating every inch of his body. He has a gun and he kills anybody who comes near him, ducking under knives, moving in the way Kingsman taught him how to, fighting in the way he knew long before then. 

Vaguely, he can hear a voice. Calling for a name. But it isn’t important. What’s important is that there’s only one person left. 

Eggsy has a gun.

Eggsy pulls the trigger.

\---

And then there were still two.

A fucking _misfire_.

\---

The house was empty by the time Roxy got there, but they left a machine that Roxy shot the hell out of, until the signal stopped.

Eggsy’s hand shook uncontrollably until the gun fell out of his hand. Harry looked at him with what looked like fear. Shame.

But they went on anyways. They cleaned the blood off. And saved the world.

This time, Eggsy still kills Arthur, but it’s when they’re already in the bunker, and Chester King dies along with everybody else who’s head gets blown up. This time, Harry kills Valentine, though Roxy still has to go up into the atmosphere much to her dismay. This time, they save the world just like before, but a little better.

Gawain, the oldest of the bunch, replaces Arthur. Eggsy and Roxy continue on missions, and none of them give up. It ends with Gaw—Arthur saying “Christ, just give one of them my old title. It’s been _three months_.”

He and Roxy bicker about who gets Lancelot and who gets Gawain. Merlin settles it with a fucking coin toss, of all things.

“I’m an agent now,” Eggsy shows up Harry’s door the moment it’s official. “You know what that means.”

“Technically, you didn’t become Lancelot.” Harry smirks.

“Oh fuck you,” And Eggsy pushes Harry back into the house.

It’s good. It’s too good. Some nights, Eggsy’s hand still shakes, and he can’t but think about it. He pulled the trigger. He pulled it. He—

“Eggsy,” Harry says. Eggsy’s been staring at his hand for a while. He looks up and sees Harry in his apron, and he can’t help but think that there something that has to go wrong. 

“Do you ever,” Eggsy makes a vague hand motion. “Think about it.”

“Yes,” Harry says. “But I try not to let it get to me.”

“Does it?”

“Of course it does,” He says. “I could have killed you.”

“Harry. I pulled the trigger on you—”

“That wasn’t you. And it didn’t happen.” Harry crosses the kitchen to Eggsy. He takes his hand and Eggsy’s fingers tremble in his hold. “It didn’t happen.”

“Just waiting for the other shoe to drop, is all.” Eggsy sighs. “Feels like something has to go wrong. It’s too good.”

“Have you ever heard about the saying with the gift horse?”

Eggsy rolls his eyes. “Don’t look the fucker in the mouth.”

“Well put,” Harry tells him. “There doesn’t have to be a price to pay for this. Trust me.”

Eggsy can’t stop thinking about it, about how the tiniest thing could have gone wrong, about how something could have taken this away from him. But he can trust Harry. They can have this one thing. This time, they can get it right.


End file.
